Rewriting literary history: the case of Moroccan fiction in Arabic

The article suggests that the history of modern Moroccan fiction in Arabic needs to be viewed within a longer temporal frame of reference, one that demands the use of a wider variety of literary-critical principles. Three separate 'strands' are identified as contributors to the development of fictional genres: importation from Europe and the West; the pre-modern tradition of indigenous narrative forms; and earlier models of Arabic fiction from the Mashriq region. Two pre-independence narratives, those of Al-Tihamial-Wazzani and Muhammad ibn Abdallah al-Muwaqqit, are briefly discussed as examples of the need for a re-examination of the role of pre-modern narratives in any discussion of the development of modern fictional genres in Morocco.